Obamacare remains a formula for failure.

Congressman John Fleming, M.D., released the following statement in response to reports on Obamacare enrollments in Louisiana:

“The Obama Administration hopes we won’t look too carefully at its Obamacare enrollment news. That’s because the ‘good news’ the president likes to claim really isn’t all that good. Of the people who enrolled in Louisiana, only 59% paid their first month’s premium, even though the vast number of those enrollees received some form of federal subsidy. Going forward, we don’t know how many are continuing to pay in their second month of coverage. We also don’t know how many of those enrollees had health insurance last year but were kicked off by Obamacare.

“The bottom line is that the net gain of newly insured people is much smaller than the numbers the administration wants you to hear, and there is still a lower number of enrollees who are young. In Louisiana, only 14% of enrollees whose first month was paid are under age 26. Obamacare remains a formula for failure. If many of the newly insured are older and more prone to sickness, as the numbers indicate, they will utilize health care at a high rate, driving up costs for a system that is filled with Obama’s expensive essential benefits and no caps. That doesn’t bode well at all for the cost of health insurance next year.”

Note: A breakdown of Louisianians paying for coverage can be found here.

Dr. John Fleming is Chairman of the Natural Resources Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife, Oceans and Insular Affairs and is a member of the House Armed Services Committee. He is a physician and small business owner and represents the 4th Congressional District of Louisiana.